Startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

MAYNARD WEBB: The one thing that matters most at a startup company is talent. It’s where you spend most of your money and it’s what will make the greatest difference in defining your success. So let’s not be stupid about it: you have to invest more in this asset than anything else. That means getting started right away — before Day One — if you want to onboard as efficiently and effectively as possible. With startups, you don’t have room for any bad hires. Everyone has to contribute right away, but even if a new hire is experienced, he or she will need to learn your company’s product and unique culture. Too much process around this is bureaucratic and stifling, and too little process yields chaos. Here are four things I think every startup should consider to get new team members up to speed. … Read More »

Brian Honigman, marketing consultant: Social media is mostly thought of as a marketing channel, and it is certainly effective in this regard. However, it is often overlooked as a platform for gathering feedback about your business and industry at large. If carried out correctly, a social media-based focus group can yield much more beneficial insights than a traditional focus group. People tend to be much more comfortable expressing ideas from behind a computer screen than they do in person. In addition, you will probably have a higher-quality pool of participants and will have a thorough record of the entire conversation. Beyond giving your team valuable feedback from conversations with your audience, showing your customers that you value their opinion is likely to create a climate where they are more open to giving feedback again in the future. … Read More »

Chris Myers, co-founder and CEO of BodeTree: Once you launch your product, odds are you’ll be inundated with feedback asking for new features and adjustments right out of the gate. Sometimes these requests will be incredibly valuable, highlighting potential features that will help you find the best product/market fit. More often than not, however, feature requests will bog down your team and lead to product bloat. For entrepreneurs, there’s always a strong temptation to add features in order to satisfy the customers you’re currently engaging with. Learning to say no to new features (even interesting ones) is important, although this is easier said than done, especially when you’re looking to attract customers. … Read More »

CHRISTINA BECHHOLD: I’m not an urban planning expert, but I knew from personal experience that the traffic lights in Lower Manhattan weren’t operating efficiently. I wrote to the Department of Transportation via 311 and alerted them to my concern that these particular lights were not timed correctly for the volume of morning traffic that passes through the area. A few months later I received a typed letter signed by the Lower Manhattan Borough Commissioner thanking me for my note and informing me that a study was conducted which confirmed my conclusion; the lights had been reprogrammed as a result. Victory! Having traffic lights in Manhattan changed as a direct result of my feedback will always be one of my proudest accomplishments. I totally have that letter framed and hanging on my wall. …Read More »

JOHN GREATHOUSE: A company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a beloved metric slavishly tracked and reported by product marketing and customer support executives of both established and nascent enterprises. There is no doubt that customer satisfaction is an important component of a company’s success. However, rather than obsessing on a single metric, entrepreneurs should focus on improving their Net Revenue Score by driving incremental sales via referrals. Large companies can afford to fixate on esoteric measures, but startups must generate tangible financial results to survive. A Net Promoter Score of 100 is small consolation if your bank account score is 0. … Read More »

DAVID COHEN: I’ve discovered that the best founders set their company culture early on, and hire with that culture in mind. This is not always easy to quantify, but an employee’s fit to the culture is the best predictor of their ultimate engagement and performance. Doing more in less time (and doing it well) means the team must work in unison. Misfits are sand in the gears. The more time people focus on the process, the less time they are focused on actually getting the work done. But convincing those people to come work for you can be difficult in a world where every company seems to say they have a great culture and provides benefits that were once seen as above and beyond. Here are some things that help. … Read More »

Chris Myers, co-founder and CEO of BodeTree: The level of skill that someone brings to the table is incredibly important, but it isn’t the deciding factor. We’ve turned away plenty of rock stars throughout our history because they weren’t necessarily people who believed in mutual respect. Skills can be learned and honed over time; respect is something that is more innate. There’s an intangible element at play here, but it ultimately comes down to working together as a team. I firmly believe that effective teamwork comes from the ground up and that dealing with outsized egos, even when they’re justified by skill, simply isn’t worth it. … Read More »

MAYNARD WEBB: The only way to attract top talent is to be working on something very interesting and challenging, where the best people will have an opportunity to learn and grow. Don’t be intimidated by competing against old, established companies. If you are running a startup, you offer the candidate way more variety and the opportunity to build something from scratch. That’s a very attractive proposition. I always view an opening as though I have two 50-yard line seats to the Super Bowl and I have to decide who I am going to invite. In other words, I start from the perspective that I have something very special, and I possess the belief that a lot of people would like to participate. This leads to far better outcomes than the “Eeyore” approach of lamenting, “How am I ever going to accomplish something so difficult? How am I going to find the best talent?” … Read More »

Sujan Patel, Vice President of Marketing at When I Work: Thanks to the Internet, professionals of all ages are more aware than ever of other companies, other opportunities and other work environments. As a result, more and more people are making the decision to work for other companies that have better hours, better perks, better teams, better locations — you get the idea. ‘Job hopping’ is a lot more common and much more accepted than it used to be, and competition for top talent is fierce. So how can you attract top talent for your company? How can you stand out from the crowd and find employees who are going to help you take your business to the next level? The answer: Use marketing to reel them in. … Read More »

David Ciccarelli, founder and CEO of Voices.com: I’m an advocate for speed interviews — fast-paced networking where hiring managers, supervisors and department heads can meet a number of candidates in a two-hour burst. An added bonus is that candidates are able to tour the office, meet employees and get a feeling for the corporate culture you have to offer. To organize a speed interview, you first need a group of promising candidates — 25 to 30 is a good range because you’ll need to anticipate that a few people simply won’t show up or will need to cancel last minute. You’ll also need a group of volunteers — “culture carriers” as I call them — who will greet candidates, provide guided tours of the office and, most important, interview the potential hires. …Read More »

About The Accelerators

For aspiring or actual entrepreneurs, The Accelerators is an online archive of discussion among startup mentors– entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists. Although the blog is no longer being updated, its content lives here and you can see an archive of its tweets through June 2015 @wsjstartup.